New Honda 1300 cars coming off the assembly line in Japan in the early 1970s.

Submitted, Driving

Company founder Soichiro Honda with the first 1300.

Submitted, Driving

Only three left in North America, B.C. man bought his new in Australia

by
Alyn Edwards | February 15, 2016

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VANCOUVER — The tiny Honda 1300 of the early 1970’s was the brainchild of Soichiro Honda, the founder of the largest motorcycle company in the world and now among the world’s largest automobile manufacturers. The Honda 1300 was the forerunner of the Civic, which was introduced in July 1972 to become one of the most enduring and best-selling cars ever.

Despite the historic value of the innovative sub-compact Honda 1300, packed full of innovative features engineered at the insistence of the obsessive founder who almost bankrupted his company during development, the car gets little notice today.

Armstrong resident Lindsay Thachuk owns Canada’s only Honda 1300 Coupe 7 — a car that he bought new in Australia in 1972. It is so rare that it is one of just three in North America. Other than what the Honda Corporation keeps in its museum, this is the only one-owner car in the world.

The Edmonton native had taken a two-year teaching job in Australia and decided to trade in the troublesome used Mini he bought there. He went to a Honda dealership to make a deal on the Mini look-alike N600 and allowed the dealer to steer him to the newly minted 1300 model. He had seen the car displayed at the Adelaide Motor Show and was smitten.

The invoice from Adelaide Honda Cars, dated the last day of February 1972, shows the Honda 1300 ‘7’ manual sedan cost $3,200. The new owner was allowed $600 for the Morris Minor trade-in.

So, why is this car so special?

First off, front-wheel drive cars were uncommon at the time, and the transverse mounted four cylinder engine was unique. In addition it had forced air cooling powered by a turbo fan on the end of the crankshaft that sucked air inside the engine like water. It was a dry sump engine with the oil held in a finned tank. The Honda 1300 also had disc brakes, four-wheel independent suspension and very unique crossover swing rear axles. With all these innovative features lumped together, this car was way ahead of the pack. It also offered amazing economy.

“The first time I filled it with gas, it cost two dollars and ten cents,” Lindsay recalls, adding he has kept a log book of all fill ups and maintenance for the past 43 years with 750 entries.

The Honda 1300 was to be the company’s entry into international auto sales to compete with Toyota, a company that had been making cars since the 1930s. But big plans to export the car to North America to compete against the newly released Toyota Corolla never happened. The 1300’s all aluminum air cooled engine couldn’t be guaranteed to meet strict emission controls.

It would be the last personal project of Soichiro Honda. Despite the history and rarity, it gets little notice. In fact, he brought it to Canada in 1994 after no one wanted to buy it in Australia and there was extra room in the shipping container. Once landed, he contacted Honda Canada offering them the car for marketing and historic purposes. He received a key chain in response.

He drove his car to the opening of a new Honda dealership in the North Okanagan with the offer to display it in the showroom. The dealer hid the car in the delivery area.

Lindsay trucked his Honda to last fall’s Luxury + Supercar show at VanDusen Botanical Garden where it captured the Historical Vehicle Association’s This Car Matters award.

“Even at VanDusen, eighty per cent of the people walked by and didn’t look at the car,” he laments. So now the original owner doesn’t know what to do with his historic Honda.

“I would be willing to sell it but I have no idea what it is worth,” says Lindsay.

The car has its own website (honda-1300-coupe.com).

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com